Your survey in Google Forms is ready, but what about your data? Google Forms is a great, simple, free tool. But there's no workflow engine behind it. So how can you make the most of the data that you capture? Outputting your data into JIRA is a good way to make it more usable.

In this post, we'll describe how you can pipe your data into JIRA, using a third-party tool like Zapier. We'll also offer an easy alternative that combines the data collection convenience of a form with Jira's powerful workflow engine.

Limitations

Google Forms is a wonderful tool, that allows anyone in your organization to capture relevant information on Jira issues, but there are limitations that you need to keep in mind:

Management of multiple forms - Most business processes require multiple forms. Think of the onboarding process in an organization - there are a myriad of forms from HR. There is no easy way to associate two form responses together. Each submission through Google Forms requires the creation of a new issue. You will be left handling the responses manually or copying or pasting information.

Everything dumped in the description field - If you don’t want everything to end up in the description field, you will need to create multiple custom fields, configure the create screen, and adjust screen schemas. This is not an optimal approach for someone without a solid technical understanding and it techies who know understand how to do it may warn against creating too many custom fields.

Data leaking - Another limitation to consider is managing the multiple copies of data. You will have data in Google Forms, Google Sheets, in the Zapier history and JIRA. You will need to have good data hygiene processes to ensure that the information is secure. There are rules and regulations in managing personal data so check your privacy policy to ensure that you are up to date.

The Alternative

If the process below seems like a lot to go through, it’s because it is. Combining the data capture power of a form with JIRA’s workflow engine is a great way to stuff done, but the process of adding a Google form to an issue is a bit cumbersome to say the least. Instead, consider the ProForma JIRA add-on. ProForma lets you easily attach forms to JIRA issues or JSD request types. You can create your own forms or modify an existing template. You can create issues from forms whenever needed. All the data you need gets captured in one place and stays attached to the JIRA issue. No data leakage. No complicated third party integration.

3. Select Google Sheets as your Trigger app. This is the app that will start the Zap.

4. Select New Spreadsheet Row.

5. Click Save + Continue.

6. Select the Connect a New Account and log in.

7. Click Continue.

8. Click Save + Continue.

9. Click Fetch & Continue to test your Google Sheet.

10. Click the Spreadsheet dropdown and select the spreadsheet.

11. Select the Worksheet, and then click Continue.

12. Click Re-test Google Sheets to get another spreadsheet row.

13. Click Continue.

To set the action in Zapier

The action in Zapier will tell the app what to do. This is the app that the action will be applied to.

1. Click JIRA.

2. Select Create an issue.

3. Click Save + Continue.

Tip: To use JIRA, you need access to a relevant project and permissions to create issues. Your Admin can add you using Project Settings > Users and roles.

4. Click Connect a New Account.

Tip: Ensure you add the https:// at the start AND a trailing / at the end, otherwise you will get an error. You need to enter the full URL.

5. Click Save + Continue.

6. To set up the JIRA Issue, select Project. This is where you tell Zap what you want to do with the data from the Trigger app. When you click the dropdown, it tells Zap where to pull the data from the Trigger step.

7. Click the Issue Type dropdown, and then select Support.

8. Click Continue.

9. Click the + for a dropdown list of items that you can use to populate the field. If a field is missing, it needs to be in the Create Scheme - JIRA Screen Scheme. If you enter a value, makes sure it is a value that you want created in every Zap

Tip: Include most of the fields in the description.

10. Click Re-test JIRA to get another issue. Testing the Trigger allows you to see what values will be used in the fields.